Eighteen-year-old, spoilt, sassy and sweet Georgina Harris always had everyone at the tip of their toes whenever she was near. Her father was a reputable, filthy rich billionaire mogul, and the outside world was filled with snakes of all kinds. Being the only child, Georgina had to be protected at all costs.

When Aleksei was hired to guard Georgina Harris, the stubborn, sassy daughter of a distinguished billionaire, he was confident that the job will be just another walkover for him. But boy was he wrong. She was unlike anything he'd ever handled, and she made his icy heartstrings tug in ways they've never done before. The two of them soon become attached, but with college near, and Aleksei's staunch resolve to keep his hands off Georgina till the time was right turning thin, would they figure things out before it's too late and Georgina goes away?

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1: Aleksei.

Some would call her a curse, but I know better. Little Georgina is an angel.

My angel.

Her father is speaking to me from the other side of his desk, but my attention is captured by the scene taking place outside the window, just over his shoulder. Georgina is out for her daily morning swim in the backyard, jumping off the diving board in her emerald – green bikini. As she jumps, long, raven – colored hair flies out around her, musical laughter reaching through the window pane to fill the office. Her tits come free of the flimsy material beneath the water. I know this, even if I can’t see it. I’d love nothing more than to pluck her from the pool and bend her over that diving board, those ridiculous green triangles hanging from my teeth.

Soon.

My fingers twitch where they rest on my knee, imagining the strings of her top caught between them. Yanking them open instead of tying them securely, as I’d done only an hour ago.

Uncle Aleksei, will you tie me up?

A growl kindles in my throat. Yes, some might say I have been cursed, assigned as full – time bodyguard to a tempting eighteen – year – old who comes to me with her every whim, giving me big green, grateful eyes when I fulfill them. Men of this world want instant gratification. I am the opposite — and everyone will soon know this about me. My time has been bided for five long years, and my reward is almost ready to be claimed.

“As you know, Aleksei, when Georgina’s mother was taken from me…” David Harris’s hand clenches into a fist and shakes over his neat stack of paperwork. “Georgina was all I had left. She’s been homeschooled, kept within these walls from enemies who would target me. I’ve trusted her to no one, save you. And once again, I must ask that you protect her in this next phase of her life.” His expression wilts. “College.”

David is a congressman with deep Russian roots. Loyalties that he never forgot but keeps out of the public eye. He’s a man who doesn’t mind using his political influence to grant favors, when such actions benefit him. Such is my case. In exchange for David pulling strings to bring my mother and siblings to Chicago from Russia, I pledged him five years of fealty.

When I came to Chicago, my reputation preceded me. I’m a man who keeps his vows, even at the cost of death. Among my duties as David’s right – hand soldier, I have been tasked with keeping his precious daughter safe and happy. I have performed my job very well. A weaker man would have given in to his lust by now and bedded the girl. Snuck in while her father slept upstairs and claimed her perfection for his own.

Red coats my vision, crackling fire roaring to life in my ears. Just thinking of her in someone else’s hands makes me want to commit slaughter.

“If it was up to me, she would go somewhere local. Private.” David sighs, scrubbing both hands over his face. “But she wants her freedom. We can’t keep her locked up forever.”

Oh no?

A matter of opinion, perhaps.

I examine my knuckles. “You want me to drive her to college.”

“Yes.” David turns and watches Georgina through the window. “Keeping her sheltered for so long…it’s going to backfire. She doesn’t know how to make friends or go places alone. Christ, she doesn’t know a damn thing about men.”

And she won’t. No men but me.

I grip the armrest of the chair so tightly, it begins to snap, but I release it in time. “No,” I agree, my voice grating. “She knows nothing of men.”

If she did, she wouldn’t be so comfortable sitting on my lap. Or parading around her rooms in nothing but flimsy panties when I can clearly see her through the open door. My cock has gotten hard watching those little cheeks jiggle inside lace so many times, I’ve lost count.

Her body is not the only thing that stirs my manhood, though. Oh no. Others tend to write off my Georgina as a pampered brat who is spoiled thanks to her paramour looks. Little do they know Michigan State gave her a full academic scholarship. I can’t check books out of the library for her fast enough, and I’ve replaced her tutors several times because they couldn’t devise a challenging curriculum. The angel keeps me on my toes.

“I’ve asked a lot of you, Aleksei. My work schedule doesn’t allow me to be home very often, and you’ve become Georgina’s family.” He gives me a look ripe with meaning. “And you haven’t broken the promise you made me. You know the one. Hell, she even calls you Uncle.”

I know this. I don’t need a reminder of the purgatory I’ve been living in.

“You’ve become invaluable to me, not just as Georgina’s bodyguard but as an operator.”

We trade a look. Operator. Hit man. Same difference.

“You’re the best I have on my payroll, but those skills haven’t been utilized as much as I’d like. Once you help Georgina transition to college life, I need you back here working for me.” He leans forward across the desk. “Without Georgina as a distraction, we can really focus your…talents…where they’re needed. Name your price.”

I’m saved from having to answer when Georgina explodes into the room, bringing color and light along with her. And too little clothing for my liking. Bubbling with life, she turns in a pirouette, giving me a three – hundred – and – sixty – degree view of my tight, teenage tease, her slender curves covered in nothing but green strips of wet nylon. My muscles flex, my hands eager to reach for her. But I don’t have to, because as usual, Georgina reaches for me first.

“Aleksei,” she sing – songs, taking her rightful spot on my thigh, throwing herself sideways against my chest and snuggling there. “You said you’d come outside and watch me dive.”

My features stay neutral, but my head is filled with a forbidden image. Georgina’s legs spread on David’s desk while I tongue – fuck her to a hip – bucking orgasm. “Your father needed to speak with me.”

Her fingers toy with the button of my coat. “About what?”

David smiles absently, his gaze drawn by something on his computer screen. “Your drive to college tomorrow.” He refocuses on his daughter, seeming to find nothing at all wrong with her clinging to me half naked, still dripping from the pool and looking like an advertisement for expensive internet porn. The ones I never click on because they aren’t Georgina.

David’s cluelessness is only one of the reasons I have no guilt about what’s to come. He has taken my reputation as a killer into consideration and still allowed me to raise his daughter. Me. A red – blooded male taking on responsibilities of her meals, her schooling, even the purchase of her clothing. Caring for her when she’s sick.

Does he actually believe I could now part ways with my reward?

“You know I have my reservations about letting you attend school so far from home, but we’ve registered you under an alias. Your pictures haven’t been in the media since you were thirteen, so there’s no danger of being recognized. Aleksei is going to check your dorm for security and speak with personnel, to make sure you’re settled before he leaves.” David raps a fist on his desk. “Any instructions he gives you are for your own safety. Make sure you listen.”

“Of course.” Green eyes flash up at me, full of wit and sass. “Don’t I always?”

This is it. I’m finally free.

I get a running start and slide across the hood of Aleksei’s black Mercedes, my butt making a long squeaking sound. Sticking the landing on the other side, I throw back my hands like I’ve just dismounted the uneven bars at the Olympics.

Watching me through broody, slate – gray eyes, Aleksei tosses my final suitcase into the trunk without cracking a smile.

What is his deal today?

Most times, he would at least give me a little lip tilt action.

“Aw. Are you going to miss me, Uncle Aleksei?” I saunter closer and prop my hip against one of the rear car doors. “Is that why you’re so quiet?”

His gaze tracks down to my jean skirt, probably finding it too short to be decent. “Nyet.”

Hurt swamps my belly knowing he’s eager to get rid of me, but I don’t let him see it. Some days I think he likes caring for me. He does it so well. When my father checked out emotionally after my mother was killed, Aleksei became the only constant in my life. He’s stayed that way for five years. Would a hardened man like Aleksei do anything he didn’t want to do? I have no idea. Then again, this is part of the reason I’m going so far away from home for school, isn’t it? The confusing way Aleksei makes me feel?

My hormones officially went bananas right after I turned sixteen and walked in on Aleksei in the shower. Through the water – speckled glass, I saw his naked, six – foot – eight frame covered in jet-black ink, water coasting down that handsome face — so frustratingly made of stone — splashing on his hard packs of ruthless muscle. He didn’t see me in the bathroom. No, he couldn’t have. Or he wouldn’t have continued stroking that huge, heavy trunk of flesh between his legs, muttering curses in Russian.

Aleksei being none the wiser about my accidental peep show is the only reason I can still call him Uncle with a straight face. Because I’m pretty sure girls aren’t supposed to have sweaty fever dreams about their uncles. Even if they’re not actual blood relations. And even if the dreams are against a girl’s will.

Oh, who are you kidding? You beg your subconscious for those dreams.

My nipples turn to spikes beneath my tank top just thinking about the last one. When I joined Aleksei inside that foggy shower and he forced that hard part of himself between my lips, grunting my name and wrapping my hair in fists. Thrusting.

Have I been crazy thinking he could crave that — crave me — in real life? Sometimes I swear I sense torment and restraint in him, but he locks it down so fast I think I imagined it. Well, I’ve had quite enough of living in such close quarters with the man haunting my dreams and turning me into a walking, talking horn dog. It hurts. Physically and mentally. Not to mention, the second – guessing of my own sanity is starting to drive me crazy.

Not that I’d let him know that.

Memories of Aleksei’s rough hands tying my bathing suit strings yesterday makes my movements provocative as I sway closer to him, inserting myself between him and the trunk, letting my fingers walk up the center of his formidable chest. “You won’t miss me even a little bit?”

Eyes flaring, he catches my wrist. “Do not play games with me, Georgina.”

The breath catches in my lungs, heat rushing to my cheeks. Rushing to every part of me. What if I never get another chance to figure out if I imagined the pull between us? I’m going to college today. Even if he tells me I’m crazy and he could never be attracted to a girl he raised from such a young age — a girl he taught to drive, taught to throw a punch — I won’t have to see him every day while living with the knowledge.

The reality of not seeing him sends panic and pain slicing into my middle. And it’s the pain that knocks the words free of my mouth. “I’ve tried to play games,” I blurt out, thinking of all my silly attempts to tempt him. “You won’t play them back.”

Gray eyes narrow, and I sense a debate taking place. I’m so focused on watching him for a sign of what he’s thinking, I suck in a breath when he releases my wrist…and steps forward, pressing me back against the trunk. Traps me there. My neck is forced to crane to keep eye contact, and he looms, so massive and unmoving above me, but his dominance only makes my nerve endings go wilder. “Nothing about us, little angel, is a game. I will not miss you, because I never intend to leave you.” His hand slides beneath my skirt and cups my right cheek, kneading it, stealing the power from my knees. Making my mind reel. “This is mine. Now go put it in the passenger seat, before your father sees me defiling you from the window. It wouldn’t stop my plans, but it might delay us.” He slaps my backside, growling deep in his throat. “And you know I hate being late.”

I’m left with my mouth agape, staring into space as Aleksei rounds the car and climbs into the driver’s side, starting the engine.

What in the world just happened?

My Gina does not like puzzles.

She fidgets now in the passenger seat like a bird in its nest, unable to get comfortable. Which means I cannot settle, either, because her comfort is my calling. I do find the way she huffs and peeks over at me from beneath her eyelashes rather adorable, however, so I’ve decided to let it continue a little longer. She will have the information she seeks soon enough.

Revealing my intention to keep Georgina was not part of my plan, but I’m a man at the end of his tether. My notorious patience is thinning with every mile I drive. Keeping myself restrained around this girl was never easy, but now that I can see light at the end of the tunnel, I find my desperation to claim Georgina growing stronger by the second. To a level of hunger I never knew existed and doubt I’ll ever extinguish.

Her palms travel down her bare thighs then back up. A nervous gesture, but that doesn’t stop it from hardening my dick. When I make her my wife, I will allow the skirts. But I will take her wearing these tiny creations as a signal she wants to be fucked until they’re soaked straight through with my cum. Then she can decide if she still wants to wear them in public.

If I want to make it to our destination, I must cease these thoughts, but I know from experience that it’s impossible. She is my obsession and has been such for longer than I would admit to a court of law. Quitting breathing would be easier than stopping my thoughts of her beneath me. Finally. Her virgin blood staining the sheets of our bed.

Georgina sits forward suddenly. “I didn’t pack my favorite pajamas. The long red shirt with the pocket — ”

“I packed it.”

“My copy of Anne of Green Gables?”

A memory of her curled up beside me reading the book makes my throat feel funny. “Done.”

She’s quiet for a beat. “What about my spare pair of reading glasses? I always lose the first and I need a backup until I find — ”

“They’re in the bag with your…lotions.”

“Oh. Thank you, Aleksei.” She goes back to rubbing those thighs. The ones that will be living around my waist very soon, but not soon enough for my sanity. “So, um. What did you mean back in the driveway? About never leaving me. Did you mean that…figuratively?”

My lips press together to keep from smiling. Six miles. She made it six miles without giving in to her curiosity. Too bad I have to make it another two hundred miles without giving in to my impulse to fully explain my intentions. “I meant it the way I meant it.”

I feel her low hum deep in my stomach. “I don’t like that answer.”

“You are only satisfied with full explanations.”

“That’s because I’m a normal.”

Again, I suppress a smile. “You don’t find me normal, angel?”

She tilts her head and peruses me with lively green eyes. “Definitely not.” Her jiggling right leg tells me this line of questioning is far from over. When it finally stills, I glance over to find her cheeks pink. “Aleksei, you…touched me.”

At the reminder of her taut ass fitting perfectly in my hand, the teeth of my zipper bite into my swelling cock. “I’ve touched you many times. Do you not recall what happens when there’s a thunderstorm and you crawl into bed with me?”

A puff of air leaves her lips. “You’re just so w – warm.”

Memories of Georgina tucked tight against me, her hands dangerously low on my belly, make my fingers tighten on the steering wheel. That long red T – shirt she calls pajamas is so threadbare I could feel her nipples rake my sides every time she breathed. Oh yes, she’s tried to play games with me many, many times. I’ve cursed my refusal to break vows on more occasions than I can remember, but I’m a man of my word. I can only hope she will appreciate this about me one day. Tomorrow would be nice. “I’m glad my temperature pleases you, Georgina.”

I can hear her quickened breathing across the car. “Brushing my neck accidentally with your fingers when tying my bathing suit or…rubbing my back when I’m sick…that’s not the way you touched me in the driveway. That was different,” she finishes in a whisper. “Did you like it?”

Heat kicks me low in the gut. Years of forcing myself to treat this girl like a niece has taken its toll. How can I resist talking to her about sex? About the off – limits body she’s been tempting me with since I was hired by her father? When I finally answer her question, my voice is nothing more than gravel. “You’re asking me if I enjoyed having your smooth little cheek in my hand, knowing there’s a tan line that slashes diagonally, right across the center?” A rumble of hunger moves in my chest. “There’s a reason I never remove my overcoat while you’re swimming in that green mind-fuck of a bathing suit, angel. My cock is so stiff, you could use it as a second diving board.”

Her knees shoot together, and I barely check the urge to reach over and pry them apart. To see if my confession made her panties wet. Don’t do it. If I see any evidence that her virgin cunt is prepared for me, I’ll pull over and breed her on the hood of this car. “B – but you…” she sputters. “You’re the one who bought the green bathing suit for me.”

“I assure you, Georgina, that bathing suit was all for Uncle Aleksei.”

Is this real life?

Sheltered or not, I’m usually capable of assessing a situation pretty fast. Reading people. Solving dilemmas. But I can’t make sense of this. Aleksei, the man I’ve been having illicit fantasies about for years, has been having them about me, too?

No way. I don’t believe it. All those times I snuck into his bedroom because I was “scared of the thunder” (I wasn’t), he refused to take any of the openings I gave him. I mean, call me crazy, but when a half – naked girl combs her fingers through a man’s chest hair and purrs like a kitten, that’s a sure – fire sign she’s interested in more. But he’d only lain there like a stone statue, grunting at me in Russian to stop interrupting his sleep.

All this time, has he wanted to push me down into the mattress and…

I can’t even bring myself to think the word, because I’m already slick. Right where it counts. And he keeps frowning at my squeezed – together legs, as if he knows it.

“I don’t believe you. About wanting me.”

His jaw muscle flexes. Hard. He’s angry now? “Don’t believe me?”

“Nope. Why now? Why would you wait to tell me this until you’re…” I fling a hand toward the passing scenery, “essentially driving me out of your life?”

He bares his teeth. “I’m not leaving you. We’ve spoken of this.”

Hearing that, knowing he didn’t just mean it in some symbolic way, my heart lifts with relief. As much as I want my freedom, the one thing — person — I never want to be away from is Aleksei. He’s the one who brings home a cake and candles to celebrate my birthday when my father forgets. He’s the one who fusses and threatens the doctors when I’m sick. My friend, the only man who’s ever made my lady parts clench…my uncle who isn’t really an uncle. Aleksei.

But it’s difficult to reconcile the man I’ve grown up with and this new, sexually charged Adonis…who claims to want me. Bad. Even after walking in on him touching himself in the shower, our relationship didn’t change. Not on his end, anyway. I was walking into walls for two months, the hot vision of his big hand stroking up and down his shaft painted on my corneas.

“I need an explanation, Aleksei. Or I’ll…” I search the car for some threat inspiration, my gaze landing on the granola bar sticking out of my purse. “I won’t eat until I get the truth.”

If possible, his powerful frame grows even stiffer. “Your lunch time is in seventeen minutes, Georgina. You will not be missing it.”

Propping my hand on a bent wrist, I flutter my eyelashes at him. “Then I guess you should start talking.”

He grunts, looking at me with grudging approval. “You are a very challenging creature.” His fingers tap on the steering wheel. “Very well. I will appease some of this curiosity.”

My smile seems to distract him. “Thank you.”

A curt nod. “Try and maintain that grateful attitude.” His cheek flexes for long moments as he stares out at the road ahead. “Do you remember when I came to live with you?”

“Of course.” I turn and lay the side of my face on the leather seat. “It was the week after my mother’s funeral. My father was so paranoid, he wouldn’t let me leave the house, and I thought I’d be a prisoner forever, but…he trusted you to protect me. Before you even unpacked, you took me out for ice cream.”

“Yes.” His expression warms, before the stoicism returns and chases it away. “This trust your father had in me is very important, Georgina. It didn’t come for free. Do you understand? Not for him or me.” He pauses. “My mother and sister needed a home in Chicago, and your father had the connections I didn’t, being so new to this country.”

I nod, because I knew this much already. Aleksei’s family is private and they don’t come to the house very often, unless there’s some news that must be delivered in person. But I always know when it’s someone’s birthday because he asks my opinion when ordering flowers or a gift online. “I’m glad he helped your family. It brought me you.”

My face goes up in flames as soon as the words leave my mouth. Normally, I wouldn’t hesitate to let Aleksei know I appreciate him. But that was before he touched me. Before he admitted to admiring my near – naked body with looks I used to believe were platonic. Now I worry saying how much I need him out loud might make me sound too desperate. Aren’t I, though? God, I can barely sit still on the seat, I want to be in his lap so bad.

“Georgina.”

“Yes,” I breathe.

“You will continue as you always have. You will not stop telling me your thoughts.” He rolls a shoulder. “I like them very much.”

My heart is pounding in my ears when I say, “Tell me the rest.”

His eyebrows lift at being given a command, but thankfully he doesn’t pull the plug on our conversation. “I gave him five years of loyal service in exchange for his help with my family. When I came to Chicago, I assumed I would be running…a very different kind of operation for your father. But when he mentioned hiring you a different bodyguard, I protested.”

I catch a laugh in my throat, just imagining what that protest from Aleksei looked and sounded like. Sort of like the human equivalent of a volcanic eruption.

“This amuses you, angel?” The car picks up speed. “Men are not to be trusted.”

“Only you.”

“That’s right. Only me.” He slants a look in my direction, those cool gray eyes roaming over my legs and breasts, his humongous arms seeming to expand and flex inside his coat. “I gave him five years. During those five years, I vowed to keep you innocent. Of all men, yes. But when I made this promise to your father, it was clear that it pertained to me. So long as this five – year contract was in effect, you were forbidden.”

Five years.

My mind flips like pages in a calendar, thinking back to the day Aleksei arrived. Fall. It was fall. I remember because the first time I saw him, I was sitting on the front steps of my house, head resting in my lap, wishing I could go ride my bike at the pier with my friends. Never again, though. My father, lost in his grief, had barred me from leaving. Aleksei’s black boots appeared first, crunching on the autumn leaves that had fallen from the tree. He crouched down and forced me to meet his eyes. Eyes that reminded me of thawing ice. Angel, he’d rasped.

“And…” My mouth is dry, so I make myself swallow. “And when does the contract expire?”

His big chest lifts and shudders back down. “Tonight.”

It’s time for Georgina’s lunch.

When she doesn’t eat, everything I say is the wrong thing. So we don’t miss meals.

She has been quiet since I informed her my shackles come off tonight. Quiet and…restless. I take a book from the glove compartment and drop it in her lap, but she starts to read it upside down, so I stow it away again. Her fingers pluck at the hem of her skirt, her feet perform an awkward dance routine, and she keeps changing the radio stations, never settling.

I have an urge to park the car and pull her across the seat, into my lap. It’s what she needs. A good, hard ride on her man’s cock. Even if she doesn’t realize it yet.

Soon.

There are some things we must speak about, before I take her body. But even I am not stupid enough to inform Georgina of her future when she has an empty stomach. She might have been born in Chicago, but she has a fiery Russian temper. In the future, I have no doubt I’ll fuck her mid – tantrum — frequently — but I want her first time to be…

Romantic.

My lip curls at such a feminine notion. Only Georgina could make a cold – blooded killer consider things like candles and high thread count sheets. I never imagined myself as a husband. And I never would have, if I hadn’t met the angel. Now I can think of nothing but making every second of her life happy. Providing and protecting what God has given me. Perhaps Georgina and I have different notions about what she requires to be content, but she will come around to my way of thinking. There is no other choice.

A hint of unease creeps into my chest, but I banish it.

I’ve already mapped the restaurant where I plan to feed Georgina, and we approach the freeway exit right on time. The gourmet sandwich shop is not the main attraction in the tiny town, though. And when we park along the main street, she sees it and gasps.

“A library? Oh my God, it’s huge.” She fumbles with the door handle, unable to take her eyes off the gothic building. “Aleksei, did you know?”

I don’t bother answering, because she should know by now, I do nothing by accident. Instead, I climb out of the driver’s side and round the bumper, scanning the street for threats as I take Georgina’s hand, pulling her onto the sidewalk. She sways into me, but this time I don’t step back right away. I let her front mold to mine, her lips popping open at the feel of my jutting cock. I want to back her against the car, thrust my erection up between her thighs and introduce her to the only cock she’ll ever know, damn the potential witnesses. But as always, when I take her out in public, heads begin turning almost immediately. In Georgina’s direction. There is a breeze blowing against the hem of her skirt, the white material teasing the underside of her tempting ass. That same breeze stiffens her nipples and makes her shiver, skyrocketing my protective instincts. Grinding my teeth together, I reach into the backseat and wrap her in the denim jacket she brought along.

She presses her lips together, those green eyes knowing. Does she enjoy my jealousy? I wonder if she still would if she knew how deep it runs. “Thank you for the library,” she whispers. “Can we go?”

“Da, angel.” I take her hand and lead her to the restaurant. “After you eat.”

“I’m not even hungry.”

She consumes every bite. I eat much faster, so I lean back in my chair and enjoy the sight of her mouth moving, the little pleased noises she makes. Just like on the street, every male in the place cranes their neck to get an eyeful of what’s mine. Until I let them know with my eyes that I will strangle them with piano wire in their sleep if they don’t fuck off. By the time Georgina finishes, we’re the only ones left in the restaurant, which pleases me very much.

On the walk to the library, Georgina takes my hand and smiles up at me. “I guess I should enjoy the good meals while they last. It’s going to be crappy campus food from here on out.”

Again, there’s an uncomfortable pang below my neck, much like guilt. “Only one hour in the library, Georgina. I want to stay on schedule.”

She glances up at the giant clock on top of the library. “Freshman orientation isn’t until tomorrow night. We have until then to move me into the dorm.” She sends me a saucy wink. “No sweat, right?”

No sweat? Moving her into a place full of strangers with bad judgment and a horny man – child trying to get laid around every corner? This is what she considers no sweat? There is only one way for me to retain my sanity, and it doesn’t include leaving her to sleep in a place where I cannot guard her.

When I don’t answer, questions appear in Georgina’s eyes, but I quickly usher her into the library. Her intake of breath distracts me from my dark thoughts, replacing them with appreciation over her reaction. There’s a beam of sunlight streaming in through a second – story stained – glass window, and it lands on the angel, making her glow even brighter. She presses her fingers to her lips and turns in a circle, taking in the sweeping marble staircases and endless rows of books on either side.

I only have eyes for Georgina, because surely there is no greater creation on this earth. The fates could not truly expect me to let her go. No. It would be impossible. I would go insane.

I’m doing the right thing. The only thing.

My voice is gruff when I find it. “The fiction section is downstairs. To your right.”

Her lips tilt at the evidence that not only did I plan in advance to bring her here, but I did my research. For her. Everything for her. “I think I’ll take a look upstairs first.”

When she climbs the marble staircase, her backside twitches right to left, turning my bloodstream into a river of fire. She casts a look back at me over her shoulder, and I know she’s up to something.

But hell if I can do anything but follow.

Turnabout is fair play, right?

Aleksei has stroked my hormones like a harp player for the longest. I’ve lived for his grudging smiles and grunts of approval. I’ve woken up hot and sweaty because his lips accidentally grazed my earlobe during a hug, turning my dreams into graphic movies starring him. And me. It has not been easy living on the razor’s edge of something I don’t fully understand but am eager to learn about. And yes, maybe plotting to seduce him in a public library is a little impulsive. After all, he all but told me we’re going all the way tonight. Mere hours from now.

A hot shiver passes through me as I turn down the darkened self – help aisle, Aleksei’s boots thudding heavily on the marble behind me. I don’t want to wait for tonight. This attraction ran thick between the both of us, so I’m kind of pissed that he kept me at a distance while I was suffering. We both had needs — Aleksei had no right to file it under his stubborn terms.

Maybe the politician’s daughter is coming out to play, because I feel compelled to take back a little of the control he didn’t see fit to allow me. I’ve been handled by my handler, and I don’t appreciate knowing how much time we’ve wasted.

Aleksei thought I was playing games with him before? He ain’t seen nothing yet.

I find what I’m looking for and stop, pointing to the top shelf. “Aleksei?” He’s suddenly so huge beside me in the dim lighting, his tightly leashed control beginning to show signs of strain, it takes me a moment to continue. “Can you reach up and get me the big red one? The one with gold lettering on the spine?”

He seems surprised by my request, but complies. And I have the satisfaction of watching one dark eyebrow hop toward his hairline when he reads the title. “The Kama Sutra, Georgina?”

I step between Aleksei and the shelf and slowly unbutton his signature black overcoat. Listening to his breath accelerate, I run a finger down his chest and stomach, feeling pretty smug when he groans. “I thought I could use some pointers for tonight.” My index finger hooks in his waistband of his dress pants and tugs. “Don’t you want me to be…ready?”

“I will put you in the positions that will bring you the most pleasure,” Aleksei rasps, reaching over my head to slide the book back into its slot. “You will not need such pointers.”

“Because you’re going to teach me.”

Pinpricks of sweat appear on his brow. “This is so.”

The ragged hunger in his tone sends warmth pooling between my legs, so I rub my thighs together to help tend the ache. But it doesn’t help. No, it only makes me desperate to be touched. If this plan backfires and I’m left hot to trot…without any actual trotting…I’m in for a world of hurt. “Can you give me a brief outline of the lesson plan now?”

Aleksei grips the shelves above my head, and they creak in protest. His face moves within an inch of mine, those gray eyes deepening to black. “You tempt me to madness on my final day in perdition, Georgina?”

“It didn’t have to be this way.” I shrug off my jean jacket and let it drop to the ground, arching my back to draw his attention to my breasts. “All those times in your bed, late at night. No one would — ”

“Stop this,” he grinds out, pressing closer.

“No one would have known if you’d make me yours.”

“Everyone would have known within nine months, little angel. Once I gave in and fucked you, you’d have been taking my cum morning, noon and night.” Twin flames blaze to life in his eyes, evidence of the danger lurking inside this man who has cared for me for so long. “And make no mistake. You are already mine.”

Nine months. Nine. He means he would have gotten me pregnant. What about protection? We haven’t even kissed and he’s already talking about me having his children? There is so much that remains a mystery. Except for the fact that I want him. And I know in the deepest part of my heart that Aleksei would never, ever do something that wasn’t in my best interest. So I throw caution to the wind and incite his lust more. I want him to give me every ounce of it. “No. I’m not yours yet.” My hands trace the outline of his chest and abdomen muscles as they heave into my palms. “Why don’t you do something to change that?”

His voice is full of dark promise when he says, “Very well, angel.”

Those capable hands drop from the shelves, hanging at his sides as our foreheads meet. He rolls them together while his hot breath forms steam on my lips. How long is he going to keep his mouth a fraction of an inch from mine? Oh God. Every second he waits, bolts turn tight below my belly button, moisture collects inside my panties. Finally, his thumbs brush my hips and he grates a string of Russian words. His forehead grinds against mine. And just when I think I’m going to be left in suspense forever, Aleksei slides his tongue into my mouth.

I make the most embarrassing sound and almost hit the floor, like the total rookie that I am. Tongue right off the bat? Isn’t there supposed to be some lip stuff to lead into the main event? Oh…my God. I don’t care. I just want more. And Aleksei gives it to me. He catches me by the elbows and drags me back upright, wedging me between his made – of – stone body and the bookshelf, flicking his tongue against mine until I join him, mating our mouths in a rhythm that echoes in my pulse.

Who is this man? I thought I knew everything about him, right down to his preferred vodka and cologne of choice. I know which of my father’s associates make him stick closer to me when they’re around, his lack of a middle name, that he secretly enjoys watching Ellen. Did I know he could kiss like this? Uh, no.

His lips are only beginning to slant over mine, his tongue fully invading my mouth with full, sweeping licks, when his hands roam down my backside. This time, they don’t stop with a squeeze of my right cheek, though. No, his rough palms slide inside my panties and grasp both sides of my bottom firmly. Possessively. With a tortured, male sound, the kiss deepens…and my feet leave the ground. My legs move automatically to surround his hips as I’m dragged slowly — so slowly — up the length of his hardness. That private, untouched part of me rides from the root of Aleksei’s manhood to the very top, where he keeps me.

“Some days I don’t know if I’ll survive without these thighs around me. Welcoming me,” he grates. “You jumped into my arms once…long ago. You could barely get your legs around me then, but you tried. You tried so hard. It was almost my undoing, Georgina, standing there while you struggled to open them wide enough to fit my body.”

Flashes of memory bombard from all sides. Aleksei’s curses, his flexing jaw. “I remember. You left. You…I didn’t know what I’d done wrong.”

“Nothing, angel. You’re never anything but too fucking right. I think even your father knew I went home to stroke my cock that afternoon.” His hands knead my backside with intention, and every muscle below my waist constricts, ripping a whimper from my throat. “This vow I made has almost been broken many times. I’d sell my soul to break it right now and slide my dick inside your tight cunt.”

“Oh,” I blurt, my head spinning from Aleksei’s confessions. His filthy speech that somehow sounds oh – so – amazing. “Isn’t that what y – you’re going to do?”

I don’t realize I’m holding my breath, my eyes gone blind, until Aleksei laughs a little against my mouth. There’s only the barest touch of humor in the sound, and an ocean full of agony. And with my clit bearing down on the thick tip of him, I’m totally sharing in that pain. Oh wow. My inner walls are clenching out of control, my thighs squirming around Aleksei’s hips. Forget wet. I’m soaked. Can he feel that? He must. I can barely supply oxygen to my lungs and how dare he laugh? How…dare he…wait, what am I mad about again?

“Look at me now,” he growls, his accent thickening.

I shake my head to loosen the lust fuzz and focus on familiar gray eyes. Only they’re not so familiar right now. They’re more than a little wild, pupils dilated. “Yes?” I whisper.

“You will come to understand that I do not break my vows, Georgina. I promised to keep you innocent, and soon I will promise to keep you. Period. I will have your pussy at five o’clock and no sooner.” His grip on my bottom strengthens. “Until then, soak me through, little angel.”

I’m about to question Aleksei’s order when he rolls his hips and sparks go off behind my eyes. Like everything else he’s done since our kiss started, it’s sensual and smooth. His impossibly huge stiffness chafes the silk of my underwear in slow waves. Up and back. Up and back. Until I’m gasping for air and digging my nails into his shoulder, thighs shaking. Even my hair follicles are screaming with sensation. Oh God. Oh…

“Aleksei.” My hips tweak to meet his next roll, and I hit my peak. Only it’s not just a peak. It’s the freaking Everest of orgasms, and my ears are ringing with the impact of it, because I’ve been waiting for this man to touch me since I can remember. “Aleksei. Don’t stop.”

“Da. That’s a good angel.” Another sharp roll, only this time he grinds me down onto his steel bulge, sending me into another realm of pleasure I never knew was possible. Straight up into the clouds above Everest. “Make a mess of my pants. Leave me covered in that virgin smell.”

“Yes. Yes.” I can’t stop shaking, and his dark voice against my forehead, the ownership of his hands that continue to knead me, keep my climax rolling, letting it master me. And the boulder of feeling rocking me to the core knocks loose my deepest secret without warning. “I love you.” I cling to Aleksei, working my clenching flesh on his hard lap. “I love you.”

I only catch a glimpse of Aleksei’s flaring eyes before my back hits the bookshelf, his voice rasping in my ear. “Did you just say…” His chest shudders up and down. “Did you mean that?”

My neck loses power, sending my forehead dropping into the crook of his neck. “Yes. I always have. Always.”

Triumph and tenderness clash in his usually stoic face. “You have given me heaven, angel. Now I will return the favor.”

When Aleksei peels me off the bookshelf and strides even farther into the dark, all I can think is, there’s more?